


Torchlight

by archaeologist_d



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Burning, Canon Compliant, Canon Era, Gen, Minor Character Death, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:01:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26528683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/archaeologist_d/pseuds/archaeologist_d
Summary: Uther remembers the first time he took revenge for Ygraine. It would not be his last.
Relationships: Ygraine de Bois/Uther Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12
Collections: Camelot Drabble — Prompt #425: first date





	Torchlight

The squalling brat’s cries seemed to echo through the cold halls. He had come a week ago, to the day, bringing blood and death to his beloved Ygraine.

Uther didn’t want to hear it. The sounds were too much like her screams when she pushed the child out into the world. Too much like pain and promise and punishment.

He had been so happy then, holding his son in his arms after the midwife cleaned him up. His hair was soft and gold like hers and his eyes as blue, and when he first cried out, Uther laughed at the lungs of him. Uther had been so wrapped up in his gift from magic’s promise, he hadn’t even noticed her stillness. He’d only thought to turn around and let her arms reach out for their child and see her tired smile. As it should have been.

But she was wrapped instead in a spill of life’s blood, her eyes glazed over in death. The midwife and Gaius and a dozen others pushed him away as they tried to keep her with him, but it was far too late.

He’d made a bargain with a demon witch and this was the price. A squalling brat and an empty bed.

But Uther was never one for forgiveness or understanding, not from people who murdered what he loved the most.

So he vowed to destroy them, take away everything that they loved, their magic, their lives, their families, their very existence in Camelot.

It was payment, it was death, and Uther revelled in it.

As he shoved the torch into the first pyre, and the screaming started, the first of many, it was only right that he could no longer hear the cries of his only son or Ygraine’s ghost calling his name.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Merlin characters are the property of Shine and BBC. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.


End file.
